Grey- Head Cone Flower

The Grey Headed cone flower is a a plant in a prairie that gets about four feet tall. It grows yellow peddles on the side of it. It blooms in the mid- spring. It almost looks a daisy but its peddles are upside down. This wildflower is not invasive, not endangered, and can not be eaten. It is native to plain regions but can be grown in all regions. It is indigenous to northern american plains. Adapts to almost all soils but prefers gritty soil. It needs full sun.

Milkweed and Indian Grass

MILKWEED

  People have used milkweed for fiber, food, and medicine all over the United States and southern Canada. Milkweeds supply tough fibers for making cords and ropes, and for weaving a coarse cloth. Milkweed stems are collected after the stalks senesce in late fall-early winter.

 Milkweed is a great plant for the garden and provides habitat for many creatures. In addition to being a host plant to the monarch butterfly, milk offers many other benefits.

There are over 100 species of milkweed in North America and the diversity of foliage and flower color is quite amazing. All milkweeds are herbaceous perennials, meaning they live for more than two years. In fact, most milkweeds will live for several years if cared for properly. Since some milkweeds can't handle freezing temperatures, there are two classifications we like to divide them into.

Indian Grass

Yellow Indian grass is a tall, bunching sod-former, 3-8 ft. in height, with broad blue-green blades and a large, plume-like, soft, golden-brown seed head. This showy perennial’s fall color is deep orange to purple. This is a beautiful grass with a somewhat metallic golden sheen to its flowering parts. It is an important associate in the tall grass prairies and is relished by livestock. It appears to be favored by occasional flooding and repeated burning and sometimes forms nearly pure stands in the lowlands. Warm-season grass with rich gold-and-purple sprays of flowers and seeds in the fall. (Ontario Native Plants 2002)

Little Bluestem

Little bluestem is a strong, long-lived native bunchgrass, widely distributed over the United States; but most common in the Central and Southern Great Plains. It is usually found associated with big bluestem native grass. It is more drought resistant that big bluestem and a smaller plant - usually not reaching over 3 feet. Leaves are up to 8 inches long, and not over 1/4 inches wide. It furnishes dependable grazing and cured hay, but is not pleasant to eat. It is especially valuable for erosion control.

Video: Planting Native Trees at Prairies and Ponds of Oakdale

The Big Blue Stem

       The Big Blue Stem is one of the tallest of prairie plants and can be reconized by its blue tone. It can be reconized by the shpe of the top looking like a turkey foot. This is the cheif grass of tall grassof the tallgrass family and used to cover acres and acres of land easyaly. The leaves of it have lots of nutrents so it can be fed for cattle and other animals. It can grow up to eight feet high . Its leaves are borne together in three different branches giving it the name turkeyfoot. One incect that uses this is the grass hopper because they hop on the top and shed there exoskeleton and leave.